Family Ties

A mother and child reunion in the Class of ’24

Tanner Battle enjoys sharing special moments with her mom, Brooke Battle. But she didn’t expect to experience the entire 2023-2024 program year together. Tanner, a student at the Altamont School, participated in Youth Leadership Forum (YLF) while Brooke, CEO and founder of Swell Fundraising, was in Leadership Birmingham—a convergence that happened by accident when illness forced Tanner to delay her YLF entry by a year. Mom and daughter say going through the programs in tandem provided them with another way to connect as well as new insights into each other.

A glimpse of the future

For example, Tanner came home from one YLF program day talking about a presentation that left her with lingering questions. Brooke, who had seen a similar presentation a few weeks earlier with her Leadership Birmingham class, couldn’t help but laugh. “We had the same reaction,” Brooke says. “I realized that Tanner reads between the lines—just like I do. She has a keen eye for [understanding] what’s truly happening.”

As for Tanner, she discovered the depths of her mother’s passion for Birmingham when she met leaders who know her parents (including her dad, Bob Battle, LB ’12). But she also enjoyed interacting with those leaders on her own because they “talked to us like a peer instead of a kid, and we got to ask the questions we really wanted to ask,” Tanner says.

In addition, she relished opportunities to explore aspects of the Birmingham region that her parents hadn’t shown her. Dring YLF’s Government Day, Tanner’s group observed Shanta Owens (LB ’11), a criminal division circuit judge, as she presided over legal matters. “The way she interacted with the whole courtroom was cool,” Tanner says. “It was great to see someone pretty young in their element and rocking it.” A visit to Hardware Park, an entrepreneurial center translating bold ideas into innovative new tools and products, was another highlight.

Experiencing Birmingham through YLF, “in her own way, not through our eyes, and not with us,” can help teens like Tanner envision a future in the region as they consider where to pursue a career, Brooke says.

Lessons in listening

At home, both Battles unpacked what they had learned during their respective program days. For Brooke, a key takeaway was that she wants to be more purposeful about being informed and involved in all aspects of the community. Leadership Birmingham offered her a way to “reconnect with people doing interesting things” after years of focusing on her work and family. “You get to a point where you think you know everybody in Birmingham, and it’s nice to realize that you don’t,” she says.

Tanner says she learned a lot about the importance of listening. YLF participants “want to be leaders and are still in the process of learning how to do that, and everyone is trying to step up at all times,” she explains. “I’ve been learning how to just sit and listen to the opinions of others and think about them instead of arguing for the sake of arguing or taking it personally.”

“It’s the same in our caucuses,” Brooke adds. “We live in a world where no one’s listening to each other. But in these rooms, people are listening, and it’s respectful even if they’re not always in agreement. It’s so refreshing.”

Community bonds 

Tanner is driving now, she has her own schedule of activities separate from her parents, and she’s looking ahead to her high school graduation. But amid that increasing independence, YLF—and the program year she shared with her mother—has emphasized the importance of sticking together to create a stronger community. “What I’ve learned the most is that everything is connected,” Tanner says. “Everyone is good at different things, and we all need each other—we all need to help each other.”